Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: SpaceShip2 accident, Antares accident, NewSpace, Legacy Space, ULA, Air Force, SpaceX & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. Welcome to our Open Lines show. During our first segment of this 2 hour 20 minute program, we mostly talked about both the recent Antares rocket explosion a few seconds after launch and the Virgin Galactic SS2 accident resulting in the loss of one crew member. After my opening statement about not engaging in accident speculation and my reading an op-ed by Dennis Wing on the accident titled "Thoughts on the SS2 Crash" (http://denniswingo.wordpress.com), we opened the lines for callers. Dr. Jurist called first to strongly urge against speculation. Michael Listner called & updated us regarding the Air Force-SpaceX litigation, then Michael talked about the SS2 accident & to guard against speculation. He did give us the relevant parts of the commercial space law pertaining to the Dept. of Transportation and FAA having regulatory oversight of the suborbital industry. He cited 51 U.S.C. § 50903(c) & pointed out this paragraph: "(c) SAFETY.-In carrying out the responsibilities under subsection (b), the Secretary shall encourage, facilitate, and promote the continuous improvement of the safety of launch vehicles designed to carry humans, and the Secretary may, consistent with this chapter, promulgate regulations to carry out this subsection." Dr. Rowe called and talked about cardiovascular risks for longer spaceflights as well as the problems associated with using pharmaceuticals in space. Bill also addressed some space tourism issues. During this segment, I read an anti-space tourism article from Wired.com which you will see on the Dennis Wingo Blog as Dennis commented on the Wired article. In the second segment, Kirk called from Trinidad. He mentioned the SR71 flight breakup with Bill Weaver and the loss of the other pilot, plus I asked questions about the interest in space in Trinidad. Dr. Dwayne Day called next to resist speculation on the SS2 accident, plus he shared some of his experiences in accident investigation and how things progress as he was part of the Columbia investigation team. We then talked about really bad network and cable news reporting on both the Antares rocket failure and the SS2 coverage. Dwayne recently did a tour of SpaceX and ULA so he told us about each one and highlighted some of the differences that he saw regarding each company. I think you will find this discussion very interesting. Dwayne mentioned early commercial spaceflight history, problems, and setbacks as points of reference for us. Tim called from Huntsville about the SS2 crash and the Russian engine used by Antares. He wondered if the British Skylon space tourism vehicle would be an alternative. SLS John was our final caller who again urged against speculation on the cause of the accident. He mentioned risks to the space tourism industry and concluded saying what others have said and that is that rockets are a risky business no matter what. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach any of the callers or people mentioned on the show through me.
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